Fertiliser drop of 15% predicted

Press, 12 October 1985, Page 24

Fertiliser drop of 15% predicted

PA , Auckland FERNZ Corporation, Ltd, is planning for -a 15 per cent decrease in fertiliser sales and says the situation is as serious as the slump in 1977. Farmers are now reducing the amount of fertiliser they usually buy because of economic conditions, FERNZ managing director, Mr Peter Riddell, said after the annual meeting yesterday. He expects his company’s fertiliser sales to drop 110,000

tonnes in this financial year. FERNZ usually produces 730,000 to 750,000 tonnes a year. “The present sales level will be just as serious as in 1977,” said Mr Riddell. FERNZ (formerly New Zealand Farmers Fertilizer Company), saw its tonnage drop by 27 per cent eight years ago as a direct result of the poor market prices farmers were receiving. Just before the slump, ferti-

User usage was at its peak. Now usage is on a lower base and “that’s why a 15 per cent drop is serious” said Mr RidThe chairman, Mr John Stevens, told the meeting it appears that the farmer is being asked to bear a significant share of the Government’s economic medicine. He said the country’s reliance on agricultural exports for income is such that it is difficult to see how the Gov-

ernment can avoid taking appropriate measures to keep farming economic. FERNZ’s net profit for the last year was 59.2 M, with revenue totalling 3246.6 M. FERNZ has recently purchased Chemical Industries Kwinana Proprietary, Ltd, in Australia, making the group the largest supplier of agricu - tural chemicals in Australia. Forty per cent of the group’s turnover is now expected to be generated in Australia.